While democracy may not be dead at the local level in North Vancouver, there is going to be less of it in the future. There are going to be fewer opportunities for citizens to have influence on their local governments for several reasons:

1. Longer terms. After the election in November it will be four years until the next one. So if you don't like the direction your mayor and council are going, it be an extra year before you will be able to vote them out.

2. The provincial government's failure to reform local election financing. Developers and unions that have the greatest interest in council decisions and which are the main contributors to the campaigns of Councillors and Mayors that support their objectives, are free to continue to do so and their better financed campaigns will drown out the voices of independents and suppress serious discussion about the future of our communities.

3. Official Community Plans are pretty much finished. The District finished theirs last year and the the City is almost finished it's latest one. In the City, staff is seeking to extend the horizon of the plan to 30 years. Most planners would prefer not to expose the land use planning process to public scrutiny any more frequently than absolutely necessary. It could be 20 years longer until the next mandatory review of the plan and opportunity to ask planners fundamental questions about land use policy and its impact on the community.

4. Media restructuring. The ability of local media to provide coverage of local politics in smaller municipalities is already overtaxed given the revenue sources they have available to them. The editorial and reporting capability North Vancouver Outlook was a victim of the last wave of retrenchment. Social media (Twitter, Facebook and blogs) is growing, but it is not clear if it can fill the gap.

Adding to the challenge in North Vancouver, there is likely a majority of people who don't know if their government is the one on 14th and Lonsdale or the one at 29th and Mahon. Is their biggest concern a shared service (police, recreation)? Or is it a duplicated one (library, fire halls)? Do they want a bike lane on the north side of parts of Keith Road or 29th Street (District) or on the south side (in the City) and who is responsible for painting the line down the middle? I can understand why someone not directly involved in local politics loses patience and gives up.

Normal pressures of everyday life just don't leave enough time to figure out how vote or otherwise influence our complicated local government structure. Without declared parties to frame the issues and connect them to overarching ideologies and perspective, the citizen who may want to vote feels lost. 4 times out of 5 in North Vancouver, they don't bother. Put another way, it means they are withholding their acknowledgment of the legitimacy of the government that influences their lives the most on a day to day basis.

Mind you, it is also possible that people who are lucky enough to live in a place as fabulous as North Vancouver are predisposed to just trust that the people in charge will do the right thing.

But what if those people in charge, driven by inertia or self interest, are not doing right by the community? What if there is actually an unacceptable level of duplication and lack of coordination between North Vancouver’s two governments 15 blocks apart? What if this becomes painfully obvious when long term plans for land use, density and infrastructure are being developed? And what if it is getting worse the longer it is allowed to persist?

From 2005 to 2013 City and District government expenditures grew by 46% and 40/% respectively, the economy and average family incomes grew by around 8%. With requirements to fund a new sewage treatment plant, and other projects like Harry Jerome or the new $30 million waterfront attraction that Mayor Mussatto would would like to build, we can't keep sticking our collective heads in the sand.

Citizens of North Vancouver deserve to be confident that our local governments are spending our money wisely. That it is not being spent on duplicated overhead. That major projects and long term plans for the future affecting all North Vancouver are being properly managed. I am not confident. I believe there is a lot at stake and that we are on the wrong track.

I thought my concerns could be addressed by taking up a standing offer the Province makes for any local governments that wants to look at restructuring. This suggestion was welcomed by District Council, but met with fierce resistance at the City. Mayor Mussatto went so far as to bully the President of the Chamber of Commerce for expressing the Chamber's support for just doing a study. The City Manager then wrote a report strongly recommending against the initiative (surprise) which resulted in the motion failing by a 4 to 3 vote at Council.

While the study is not going ahead, the ferocity of the resistance to it is very troubling. I am now more convinced that all citizens of North Vancouver would benefit from an objective look into the shape and effectiveness of our local governments. But when the chances to ask those questions are going to get fewer and farther apart I fear that it is not going to happen. Does anyone else share my concern?

Susan Skinner

22/7/2014 08:01:42

Excellent reflections Guy. Wish you weren't leaving. It's tough after many years in public service, with family and other career commitments to think about leaving the arena when there is so much more work to be done and so much frustration in attempting to move things forward. Like edging the silos closer, moving towards providing public services and infrastructure in multi-public sector/multi-use facilities and shared costs - there truly being only one taxpayer and dollar. (My focus these past years).

Thanks for taking time to share your reflections, ideas, concerns and hopes for our community Guy.

Susan

John Gilmour

28/7/2014 09:59:02

Guy, I'm pretty sure you mean the "Death" of Democracy. Not "Dearth". Right?

No John. I think there will be less democracy in the future, not that it is going to die altogether. It wasn't a typo!;-)

Tony Simon

28/7/2014 11:22:34

Thanks to Guy. His list of 4 points are all items that should be of great concern to us, and should be aired and discussed as much as possible in the time leading up to the November election.

While I personally think that it's easily possible to identify more negatives than positives regarding amalgamation, there should be no doubt that this item should also be aired and discussed in the time leading up to the November election so that concerned citizens know for whom they should be voting.

Justin Hillaby

28/7/2014 11:26:09

Way to go Doug! I for one am sick to the eye teeth of politicians who once elected, seem to think they automatically become our masters, and we are supposed to lie down and take it, or whatever their bidding may be! They forget that they work for us, not the public for them!

Derek Andrews

28/7/2014 11:35:52

Well said Guy! I agree with all your points. The problem is that inertia is a powerful force. Logic or common sense alone won't change things. There are enough vested interests in the status quo and with so many residents apathetic, those that make the effort to become informed and do something about it will have a their work cut out for them! What is needed is a clear message and a lot of passion for change.

Garth McSween

28/7/2014 12:01:43

excellent observations, Guy.

In terms of funding, I find it frankly amazing how cheaply some seem to be for sale for.

Tony Simon

28/7/2014 13:47:29

Hello Garth, At an international investment conference, a businessman active in Europe and China said to me after I made some comment about North Vancouver. "Easy to fix. There is nowhere cheaper than Canada to buy municipal politicians". Ouch.

Ivan Leonard

28/7/2014 14:27:18

I agree too many people have their heads in the sand, that apathy is rampant. But when one has to work longer, harder to make ends meet there is little time and energy to pay much attention at what is happening around them, especially as it takes longer to get home now than ever. Even those that do know what is growing up around them and maybe read the newspapers and perhaps attend a council meeting and chat to their neighbours the feeling they have is "why bother caring about it as their is nothing I can do about it anyway". "They" will do whatever "They" want. There is that apathetic shrug of the shoulders implying that the voice of the Citizens has been ignored far too long and that any thought that any thread of the democratic process exists in our City is a joke. Its only in this past few months or so with the OCPlan receiving so much publicity within the community that hints of democracy is beginning to appear. So my hopes are that citizens will take their heads out of the sand and take note about what seems to be a real chance that a "real" democratic process, where citizens will hear their voices being heard City wide and responded to as in the recent OCP debates and not be hoodwinked into believing promises that cannot and should not be made. It really is time for integrity and honesty and the full extent of a transparent democratic process return to the full light of day and the back room darkness fade into the night. With Councillor Heywood's help and the facts he has eluded to together with those Councillors who have struggled and toiled relentlessly for years on council without giving up hope on behalf of the Citizens, will at last enjoy and share with the rest of the Citizens the full light of democratic debates over issues with integrity, honesty and sincerity.

Carole Stewart

28/7/2014 15:31:08

Sorry to see that Guy is not running this time. His voice of reason will be missed. I agree with his points. It is getting harder and harder to get honest independent people elected to council.

William Western

19/8/2014 06:33:20

It seems as though Our voting priorities are with Federal and provincial politics with municipal elections running a distant third.
As a current non resident, who nonetheless was born in North Van. and spent most of my life there, I never really payed attention to what was going on in my own backyard.
From the 1950's through to the 1990's it seemed like the pace of growth was glacial.
Now in the last decade it seems as though growth, and in particular, High rise densification has gone manic.
This will continue as long as Mussato, Keating, and Bell keep getting elected.
My point, people have to be educated on the voting process and understand that voting does effect the future of their community.
This current council has free rein to rubber stamp all of their developer buddies proposals.
Am I the only one who thinks it reeks that all of these guys accept money from developers.
Get out and vote!